Last updated: July 2026
Backyard ("we," "us") is an AI-narrated walking tour app. This page explains what information we collect, why, and how it's handled.
Backyard uses your device's location only while you have an active tour open, to figure out which street or landmark to narrate next. We do not track your location in the background, and we do not store a persistent "home" or "last known" location tied to your account. GPS coordinates for the stops you visit during a tour are saved as part of that tour's record (so you can view your route afterward, and so others can walk a route you choose to publish).
Creating an account requires an email address and password, handled by our authentication provider (Supabase). We also store your full name and date of birth (used only to determine whether our mature "content off" narration setting is available to you — it isn't shared with any third party), your narration preferences (mood, voice, content settings), and whether your account has an active premium subscription.
Backyard is not directed at children, and you must be at least 13 years old to create an account. The date of birth provided at signup is checked against this minimum before an account is created. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13; if you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us at the address below and we'll delete it.
When you take a tour, we send your location and mood preference to OpenAI to generate narration text, and to Google Cloud Text-to-Speech to turn it into audio. We also use the Google Street View Static API to fetch a photo of the location. None of these providers receive your account identity — only the coordinates and preferences needed to generate that specific piece of content. Generated narration, audio, and photos may be cached and reused for other users requesting the same location and mood, since the content itself isn't personal to you.
If you choose to publish a tour as a public route, its title, stops, narration, and audio become visible to other users, along with your display name (or "Anonymous Explorer" if you've enabled anonymous publishing). You can control this per-tour when you save it.
We use a few third-party services to keep Backyard running and improve it:
Account and tour data is stored with Supabase (PostgreSQL). Audio and photo files are stored with Cloudflare R2. Both are standard infrastructure providers, not data buyers.
You can update your display name, voice, and content preferences at any time from the app's Profile screen. To request deletion of your account and associated data, contact us at the address below.
Questions about this policy or your data: privacy@backyard.app